A Boy Named Charlie Brown
(1969)
G | 85 mins | Children's works, Comedy | 4 December 1969
Director:
Bill MelendezProducers:
Lee Mendelson, Bill MelendezEditors:
Robert T. Gillis, Charles McCann, Steve MelendezProduction Companies:
Cinema Center FilmsA Boy Named Charlie Brown marked the first theatrical feature film based on Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts comic strip, first published in 1950. Prior to the film's 1969 release, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) had aired five television specials featuring the Peanuts characters, as noted in a 26 Jun 1968 Var brief. CBS Theatrical Film Division was initially set to produce the animated picture, according to the 25 Sep 1967 LAT, although CBS subsidiary Cinema Center Films was ultimately credited.
Production began on 12 Jul 1968, as announced in the 26 Jul 1968 DV. Charles M. Schulz, who also wrote the film, drew "key panels," upon which fifty-two animators based their work, the 26 Jun 1968 Var reported. A production budget of $1.1 million was cited in the 29 Mar 1970 LAT.
The film opened on 4 Dec 1969 as the Christmas attraction at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. As noted in a 17 Sep 1969 Var article, it was only the third animated film to play in the theater, after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938, see entry) and Bambi (1942, see entry). Var also stated that A Boy Named Charlie Brown represented the first animated feature for Cinema Center Films and distributor National General Pictures Corporation. At Radio City Music Hall, it set a single-day house record with $60,124 in ticket sales, and an opening-week house record with a gross of $252,558, as reported in the 11 Dec 1969 NYT and 15 Dec 1969 ...
A Boy Named Charlie Brown marked the first theatrical feature film based on Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts comic strip, first published in 1950. Prior to the film's 1969 release, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) had aired five television specials featuring the Peanuts characters, as noted in a 26 Jun 1968 Var brief. CBS Theatrical Film Division was initially set to produce the animated picture, according to the 25 Sep 1967 LAT, although CBS subsidiary Cinema Center Films was ultimately credited.
Production began on 12 Jul 1968, as announced in the 26 Jul 1968 DV. Charles M. Schulz, who also wrote the film, drew "key panels," upon which fifty-two animators based their work, the 26 Jun 1968 Var reported. A production budget of $1.1 million was cited in the 29 Mar 1970 LAT.
The film opened on 4 Dec 1969 as the Christmas attraction at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. As noted in a 17 Sep 1969 Var article, it was only the third animated film to play in the theater, after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938, see entry) and Bambi (1942, see entry). Var also stated that A Boy Named Charlie Brown represented the first animated feature for Cinema Center Films and distributor National General Pictures Corporation. At Radio City Music Hall, it set a single-day house record with $60,124 in ticket sales, and an opening-week house record with a gross of $252,558, as reported in the 11 Dec 1969 NYT and 15 Dec 1969 LAT. It went on to become the seventeenth highest-grossing picture of 1970, according to a 6 Jan 1971 Var chart, with cumulative film rentals of $6 million.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown was nominated for an Academy Award for Music (Original Song Score), and a Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children.
On 29 Mar 1970, Schulz was quoted in an LAT article as saying that Cinema Center Films wanted another Peanuts film "right away," but that it would be at least two years in the making. The next theatrical motion picture to feature Peanuts characters was Snoopy, Come Home (1972, see entry), followed by Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977, see entry), Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!) (1980, see entry), and The Peanuts Movie (2015, see entry).
When his football team achieves its ninety-ninth consecutive loss, second-grader Charlie Brown consults Lucy, the neighborhood psychiatrist, who advises him to build up skill and confidence by place-kicking. When he attempts to follow her advice, however, she perversely snatches the ball away. Charlie then enters and, with the help of the beagle Snoopy and Lucy's brother Linus, wins his school's spelling contest, having been given such familiar words as "failure" and "insecure." Sponsored by "Lucy Van Pelt Inc.," Charlie participates in a national spelling bee in New York City. During his absence, Lucy hints at a forthcoming marriage to Schroeder, a protégé pianist and Beethoven enthusiast. In quest of the blanket to which he is symbiotically attached, Linus, accompanied by Snoopy, follows Charlie to New York. There, Snoopy dances on the ice of Rockefeller Center, and Linus finds his blanket, now a discarded shoe rag. Although Charlie survives the preliminary competition, he is eliminated in the final round of the spelling tournament, when he is unable to spell the word "beagle." Disheartened, he returns home, and is again bested by Lucy while attempting to place-kick. ...
When his football team achieves its ninety-ninth consecutive loss, second-grader Charlie Brown consults Lucy, the neighborhood psychiatrist, who advises him to build up skill and confidence by place-kicking. When he attempts to follow her advice, however, she perversely snatches the ball away. Charlie then enters and, with the help of the beagle Snoopy and Lucy's brother Linus, wins his school's spelling contest, having been given such familiar words as "failure" and "insecure." Sponsored by "Lucy Van Pelt Inc.," Charlie participates in a national spelling bee in New York City. During his absence, Lucy hints at a forthcoming marriage to Schroeder, a protégé pianist and Beethoven enthusiast. In quest of the blanket to which he is symbiotically attached, Linus, accompanied by Snoopy, follows Charlie to New York. There, Snoopy dances on the ice of Rockefeller Center, and Linus finds his blanket, now a discarded shoe rag. Although Charlie survives the preliminary competition, he is eliminated in the final round of the spelling tournament, when he is unable to spell the word "beagle." Disheartened, he returns home, and is again bested by Lucy while attempting to place-kick.
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